tim heyman

9.3

really good. choose the winemaker over the label! — 6 years ago

Fredybeans

9.7

À l aveugle
Robe rubis foncée à noire
Nez frais délicat de Pinto noir avec des note d orange sanguine avec l aération
Bouche précise fraîche dynamique avec une finale ultra élégante et florale
J aurai opté pour un grand crus de vosne type saint vivant mais pas pour un grand cru de gevrey car le vin était peu épicé 👍👍👍👍 — 6 years ago

with picolator and El

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.4

Love this vintage for this. Ripe and such a clean nose. Waxey and mineral, some iodine, saline, very precise. A bit closed. I have with will open. Palate is deep, rich and ripe with terrific cut. Very juicy and so complex with absolutely terrific mouthfeel and such precision yet force. Wow. This is drinking incredibly well. Such texture and mid palate to finish though with mineral energy and freshness. — 6 years ago

David Smith

8.9

Dark stone fruit and spice. A lot of pepper and notes of forest undergrowth. Good grip on the pallet with well-integrated tannins and freshness. Probably should cellar another year or two. Great village Burgundy! — 7 years ago

Olivier Huguenin

9.1

Quel grand vin! c’est incroyable comme c’est facile à boire, pas très complexe mais profond, simple en apparence mais qui tromperait de nombreux grand saint émilion! — 7 years ago

Dan Rickershauser

9.1

French white wines forever. — 7 years ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.4

Emmanuel Darnaud is a brilliant winemaker. This is his father in law, Bernard Faurie's old vine parcel. Soaring nose of grilled meats, olives, a hint of hickory smoke, very complex. Granite minerality in the background. Floral. Really nice. Palate is beautiful. Dark fruits. Juicy and gets to every nook and cranny. Seamless and elegant but with hidden power and such refined tannins. Really nice granitic expression on the finish. Long finish. Has years to go, but by no means is inaccessible today. Terrific wine. — 8 years ago

Sipping Fine Wine

8.9

Family owned and operated since 1850, passing down expertise from one generation to another. Today run by Marie-Eve Léger, who joined parents Agnes and Bernard in 2009 after completing her degree. 100% Chardonnay, pale lemon with aromas of ripe stone fruits with biscuit notes. Palate shows apple and peach flavors, vivid acidity, well balanced. Medium+ finish ending with yeasty character. Very Nice! — 6 years ago

Jan de Weerd

9.5

Phenomenal Bordeaux. Great depth of evolving layers of currant, cassis, dark cherry and ..oh so well integrated tannins. Smooth and extremely well balanced. Bernard told us that St Estephe is the feminine side of Pauillac while Saint Julien is the masculine side. This wine supports that notion. Paired extremely well with bbq copper river salmon from Alaska. — 6 years ago

with Tammy and Spencer

Matteo Borré

10

"One of the Finest Wines I have ever tasted from Tronquoy Lalande, this estate has been resurrected by the Bouygues family (also the owners of Chateau Montrose) capably assisted by Jean Bernard Delmas, the Wine Architect at Haut Brion between 1961 and 2003. A Blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot and a whopping 10% Petit Verdot, the 2010 boasts a dense purple color as well as a big, sweet bouquet of violets, black currants, earth and subtle oak. Admirable concentration, sweet, well-integrated tannin and a surprisingly sexy, opulent mouthfeel result in a Gorgeous Wine to drink over the next 12-15+ years". [Score: 90/93 Robert Parker, Wine Advocate (194), May 2011 / Score: 92 (205), March 2013] — 7 years ago

Dave Montagne

9.2

Recommended by M Bernard @ Les Florets to pair with our excellent meals of roast cod with chorizo and carré of veal. Worked very well with both dish’s. Les Florets has an exceptional wine list and M Bernard is a talented sommelier. — 7 years ago

Jean-Phillippe Landry

9.5

Outstanding, beautiful wine. Not overly mineral but sharp and bold. — 7 years ago

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.5

On the nose, it's pure elegance. Kirsch cherries, ripe blackberries, dark cherries, plums, poached strawberries, raspberries haunt the background, vanilla, very light and soft spice, candied moist black earth, fresh violets and liquid, fresh, slightly perfumed red/dark florals. The full body is smooth, sexy and silky elegance. The tannins are round, beautiful and 65-70% resolved. The dark cherries and cherries roll the eyes back in the head. OMG! The fruits are simply garden of Eden beautiful. Poached strawberries, creamy black and regular raspberries, ripe black plum, overly extracted pomegranate, dry cranberries, soft, delicate top soil/dry clay, limestone, crushed dry rock powder, dry stones, black cherry cola/licorice, hint of anise, light notes of dry herbs, fresh tobacco leaf, sweet, dark, moist, turned earth, lead pencil shavings, rich, round mouthwatering acidity and a rich, elegant cherry driven finish that doesn't stop and I will not forget. Cheval Blanc is not a classified First Growth but on my palate it qualifies as such. Glorious bottle! I've had the 05 & 10 early. It will certainly out do this 2001 but not today. Photos of; the historical Cheval Blanc; which I prefer. I love the Bordeaux history. The new and modern 20 Million dollar addition. Shots of the cellar...the new concrete and stainless state of the art fermentation tanks. Producer notes and history...The name Cheval Blanc translates into white horse. The Chateau's history in St. Emilion traces back to 1832. It was the year the Ducasse family purchased land from Chateau Figeac. Prior to it being know as Cheval Blanc, the vineyard was better known as Le Barrail de Cailloux, which loosely translates into "barrel of tiny stones." Of course, the inspiration from the terroir's unique gravely soils. The original vines purchased from Figeac became what many people think is the best wine of St. Emilion, Chateau Cheval Blanc. For the most part, I agree with that. Back in 1832, Chateau Figeac was owned by Countess Felicité de Carle-Trajet. At that time, Chateau Figeac had grown to a massive 200 hectare estate; which is huge by St. Emilion standards. It was the Countess who decided to sell portions of their holdings. The breakup of the larger Figeac estate helped create a myriad of new St. Emilion wine making estates; which explains why so many Chateauxs include the word Figeac as part of their name. However, the owners of what was to become Cheval Blanc wanted to establish their own identity that was separate from Figeac. In 1838, the Ducasse family purchased what was to became the majority of Cheval Blanc. Some of the vines were previously part of Figeac. They began buying more St. Emilion vineyard land to create Chateau Cheval Blanc. In 1852, Mille Ducasse married Jean Laussac-Fourcaud, she came with a dowry that included their recently acquired Bordeaux vineyards that included 2 of the 5 gravel mounds running through the vineyards of Cheval Blanc and Figeac. Pretty amazing dowry! The Laussac-Fourcaud family built the chateau that is still in use today. The Laussac-Fourcaud continued to add holdings and increasing the size of the Cheval Blanc vineyards. By 1871, they accumulated a total of 41 hectares of vineyards in Saint Emilion. Chateau Cheval Blanc remains that same size to this day. A number of years ago, Cheval Blanc spent a boat load of money on updating and renovating to a modern facility in a true modern fashion that drastically departed from its original existing historical structure. Cheval Blanc has always tried to be innovative. Around 1860, when the chateau for Cheval Blanc was being built, extensive work was also being done in the vineyards. In fact, even then, Chateau Cheval Blanc was at the forefront of vineyard management techniques when they added a vast network of drains in their vineyards. Chateau Cheval Blanc was probably the first estate in the Right Bank to install this type of drainage system. At first, Chateau Cheval Blanc sold their wine under the Figeac label. Once Chateau Cheval Blanc began winning medals for the quality in their wine, they changed their label. That change included placing pictures of their medals on the label, which is still featured on their label today. More importantly, the wines were now sold under the name of Chateau Cheval Blanc. Cheval Blanc continued gaining in popularity by producing some of the best wines in all of Bordeaux during the 1920’s, 1940’s and 1950’s. In 1998 Cheval Blanc was purchased by Bernard Arnault and Baron Albert Frere for a 135 million Euros. They asked Pierre Lurton to manage the property for them. Today, Pierre Lurton also manages their other estates, Chateau d’Yquem, Chateau La Tour du Pin and Quinault l’Enclos. 1991 was one of the most difficult vintages in Bordeaux history, Cheval Blanc did not produce a wine. #RESPECT! In 2009, LVMH purchased the shares owned by Bernard Arnault in a private transaction. There was no official announcement of the price. However, rumors placed the price at close to 15 Million Euros per hectare (€615,000,000), making this the most expensive transaction yet, on a per hectare purchase price in the history of Bordeaux. 2000, 2005, 2009 & 2010 were near perfect or perfect vintages for Cheval Blanc and again in 2015, they produced candidates for wine of the vintage. In that same year at an auction held by Christie’s, a scarce, six-liter bottle of the legendary 1947 Cheval Blanc, (Probably the only real bottle in existence) sold for a record setting price of $304,375 dollars! In 2011, with the help of famed architect and Pritzker Architecture Prize winner, Christian de Portzamparc, Chateau Cheval Blanc completed a major construction and renovation project. This remodeling included; building a new winery, barrel cellars, vinification room, tasting area and efforts with the landscaped gardens. Even though the structure is modern in design (sigh), this new cellar cost over $20,000,000. The 39 hectare vineyard of Cheval Blanc has a complex terroir that consists of 3 different soils. Even though the vineyards are in one large parcel, this can be divided up as follows: 40% of their soils are gravel over multiple types of clay, including blue clay. Another 40% of their terroir has deep gravel soils, while the remaining 20% of their soils consists of sandy clay in the soil. The vineyard of Chateau Cheval Blanc is planted to 49% Cabernet Franc, 47% Merlot, and 4% Cabernet Sauvignon today, but the goal is to return to the original mix of 55% Cabernet Franc, 40% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon. The vines at Cheval Blanc are old, averaging 45 years of age. They have 8 hectares of Cabernet Franc planted in the 1950’s. However, some of the older parcels of Cabernet Franc are close to 100 years of age, as they were planted in 1920. Cheval Blanc vinification takes place in 52 different temperature controlled, cement vats that vary in size, due to the needs of specific parcels to allow for each parcel being vinified in its own tank. Malolactic Fermentation takes place in tank. The wines are aged in 100% new, French oak barrels for close to 18 months before bottling. @ FL Yountville — 8 years ago

Dan R

9.2

Delicious, gloriously wispy and mineral. Stone fruits, roasted nut, cream - nicely focused and so delicate. There's a nice savory yeastiness, almost sake-like. Picks up steam and fleshes out with air, acid kicks in on the finish. Could age a bit. Just lovely. — 6 years ago

Anh Nguyen

9.5

Picked this baby up Nuit-Saint-George while touring France with the in-laws. Father-in-law currently in the cath lab for an inferior STEMI, so decided to break this one out of the archives. Best of luck, Ralph! — 6 years ago

Richard Portes

9.1

17. (Back to work! Left out many wonderful wines...). Somewhat citrusy nose, good acidity, while buttery, indeed rich. M+ length. — 6 years ago

Peter Martin

9.0

Bright ruby color, gooseberry strawberry nose, medium weight full peacocks tail. — 7 years ago

Anshul Bhide

9.5

Alcohol - Medium +, Acid - Low medium, Body - Full bodied Sugar - low, — 7 years ago

Matthew Cohen

9.5

Wow. Gods blood. Inky black. Dark berries. Almost cassis. Sweet licorice finish. Amazing. Just amazing. Bought from Fass Selections. — 7 years ago

with Lyle

Jason Sliwa

9.0

Very nice Sauvignon Burgundy. Soft with acidic touch in the clean finish only. Long and elegant and citrusy. — 8 years ago

with Colby and Vicki